ANME Programme

ANME promotes the construction of medical ‘Centres of Excellence’ across Africa.

The African Network of Medical Excellence (ANME) is an innovative model of humanitarian intervention designed by EMERGENCY, with multinational support from the Health Ministries of the Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Uganda. The aim of ANME is to develop an integrated network of medical centres of excellence on the African continent.

‘Absence of charge’ and ‘Excellence of treatment’ are the foundations of the Model of Healthcare that the members of the ANMEintend to build. Absence of charge is a fundamental prerequisite so that everyone can have prompt access to the treatment they need. Excellence of treatment guarantees high clinical standards of each intervention and promotes the training of qualified medical personnel, along with the development of scientific research and local health systems

The first of the facilities in the ANME network – the Salam Centre for Cardiac Surgery in Khartoum (Sudan) – was opened in 2009. To date, patients with acquired or congenital cardiovascular diseases from a total of 28 countries – in both Africa and further afield – have been treated at the Salam Centre.

The Salam Centre for Cardiac Surgery is a highly innovative model of humanitarian intervention. The aim of the project is to bring high-quality healthcare to Africa, at the same time as asserting the right of every human being to receive quality, free treatment. To discuss this model, EMERGENCYinvited delegations of the Health Ministries of eight African countries in May 2008 to the island of San Servolo in the Venice lagoon, for the international “Building Medicine in Africa” seminar. Together with EMERGENCY, the representatives of eight different countries talked about how to guarantee African citizens the right to good-quality, free healthcare. The conclusions of the seminar formed the “Manifesto for Medicine Based on Human Rights“, in which the signatories recognise the “right to be treated” as a “fundamental and inalienable right of every member of the human community”, and ask for a health service based on equality, quality and social responsibility. These principles were subsequently developed, leading to the establishment of the ANME.

The Centre of Excellence in Paediatric Surgery in Entebbe (Uganda) will be the second major project under the jurisdiction of the ANME.

10 million patients treated since 1994. None of it possible without your support.